Tobacco grader with illuminable conveyor means



P. M. PAGE Aug. 7 1956 TOBACCO GRADER WITH ILLUMINABLE CONVEYOR MEANS 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 18, 1954 Q mt Q9 mm m.\ nu I. QQ\\UH ll m Q Emmxwm mn Q9 wk a mm vm mm mm mm mm 7 a wm/ m 9 8 (m mw Pau/ M. PageINVENTOR.

BY 24mm United States Patent TOBACCO GRADER WITH ILLUMINABLE CONVEYORMEANS The present invention relates to certain new and usefulimprovements in a structurally novel apparatus characterized bycarefully chosen and cooperating facilities which render the same aptlysuitable for use in a packhouse for purposes of expeditiously handlingand grading-tobacco before taking it to the market.

Those familiar with the harvesting of tobacco will agree that it is thegeneral consensus among tobacco growers that ineffectual and poorsorting results in severe cuts in tobacco profits. It follows, thatenterprising growers are, no doubt, seeking to improve cash returns bysorting and tying tobacco with care and caution before taking it to themarket. Government graders find it necessary, time and again, to tag orotherwise mark undesirably mixed grades and, to an extent, such apredicament can be avoided, at least in many cases, if the growers woulduse expediency and care in the packhouse. It is understood that once thetobacco has been sorted and tied up it is then often too late to improvethe situation.

It is generally conceded that a determining factor in Government supportprices, now in vogue, is the oificial grade as determined, unbiased, ofcourse, by carefully trained Government graders. Although, time andmoney involved in careful sorting may appear to some growers as anunnecessary waste of time and expense, the actual facts lead to theopposite conclusion. That is to say, careful sorting for the most partpays and this is especially true insofar as medium and lower grades oftobacco are concerned. In the high class or better grades, with a barnof tobacco falling into the first, second and third quality, removal ofgreen and burnt leaves may be all that is necessary. However, thesegrades should be, manifestly, clean and uniform. One trouble, of course,is that in many localities all sorting and grading is still done by handand this is a problem keeping in mind the continual decrease in farmlabor supply and the vast amount of time wasted by the graders which, ifthe overall situation were systematized it would allow the farmer to doa lot of other jobs on the farm such as digging sweet potatoes, pickingcotton, digging peanuts and so on.

It is also a matter of common knowledge that it may take some 130 manhours of hard labor to grade and tie an acre of tobacco, that is, anaverage of 1250 pounds. Because of these and other difficulties whichhave been met from time to time, it is the obvious object in the instanttransaction to not only streamline the grading and tying procedure butto put it on an assembly line basis inasmuch as experience with theapparatus herein revealed has shown that with a proper crew of gradersit is easily possible to grade and tie, say 1506 pounds and have itready for the market in 100 man hours chopping at least 46 man hourswhen the old hand method of grading and tying is followed.

There is no special virtue in tied ready-for-sale tobacco merely becauseit has been hand-sorted by old time sorters. While so-called varyingstandards for grading vary in the different sections, it is generallyfelt that most tobacco farmers and growers do a satisfactory sorting jobbefore the, sale, even by hand, but many are paying unnecessarily forpursuing the hand procedure when it is possible to do a more adequatelyand far less laborious job with a structural device; namely the gradingapparatus which is the subject matter of the instant invention. Itfollows that the object in the instant matter is to provide a simple,practicable and lightweight portable grading apparatus which can bebrought into the packhouse and shifted about from place to place and inwhich manufacturers and users will find their respective requirementsand needs effectually taken into account and met.

Broadly, a preferred embodiment of the invention is characterized by aleg-supported or equivalent, horizontally elongated table which is of alength suficient to accommodate several or more experienced graders,with the graders standing along one longitudinal edge of the machine andtossing aside the nondescript and placing it in defined compartments allof the leaf except that of the major grade which is borne away by anadditional helper in much the same manner as the off-bearer takes awaylumber at the old and familiar sawmill.

Another object of the invention has to do with a hard top table withconveyor means, broadly conveyor belts, a slowly moving upper run of theover-all belt traversing along the table so that the tobacco is movedslowly and sorted, there being a readily attachable and detachablereceiving shelf at the intake end on which the overall batch is loadedas the first grading step.

Novelty is predicated on a simple rack which is readily attachable toand detachable from an intermediate longitudinal marginal portion of thetable and which is characterized by upstanding rods, or the like, whichare used to define bins or pens to assist in the ever-pressing sortingprocedure.

Novelty is also predicated upon the table with conveyormeans, rackmeans, and what is just important, a source of fluorescent lightingwhose quality nearly duplicates the quality of light in the tobaccowarehouse making it possible to thus sort out or grade the tobacco andtie it when the lighting conditions are similar to those in which it islater to be sold at the warehouse. In addition, the light permitsaround-the-clock grading in cloudy, sunny, rainy or varying Weatherconditions.

Further novelty is predicated on the use of one or more fluorescenttubes providing a combination of shades of light, for example, daylightand cool-white, whereby these thus blended and merging rays consolidateand effectually show up the variant spectrum colors in the leaves ofcured tobacco better than natural daylight and appreciably speed up thetime in recognizing the grades by way of texture and color almostwithout hesitating doubts.

Other objects, features and advantages will become more readily apparentfrom the following description and the accompanying illustrativedrawings.

In the drawings wherein like numerals are employed to designate likeparts throughout the views:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a tobacco grading apparatus whichis especially, but not necessarily, designed for use as a portablegrader in a conventional packhouse.

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the same.

Figure 3 is a section taken on the irregular line 3-3 of Figure 2,looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 4 is a view in section and elevation taken on the approximateline 4-4 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figures 5 and 6 are similar detail views taken on the lines 5-5 and 6-6of Figure 2, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 7 is a view on the line 7-7 of Figure 1, looking in the directionof the arrows.

Figure 8 is a view in section and elevation of the motor support meanswhich may be said to be taken approximately on the line 8-8 of Figure 1,looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 9 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional and elevational view takenon the line 9-9 of Figure 2, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 10 is a bottom plan view of the attachable and detachable shelfat the receiving end, the right hand end in Figures 1 and 2.

Figures 11, 12 and 13 are enlarged detail clevational views of one ofthe brackets used at the right hand end of the machine to support theroller and also to facilitate attachment and detachment of the shelf.

Figures 14 and 15 are views similar to Figures ll, 12 and 13 except thatthey show the similarly constructed hanger brackets used at the lefthand end of the table, for example, in Figure 1.

Referring now to the drawings with reference numerals and the aid oflead lines, the larger unit of the over-all structure is convenientlydesignated as a portable legsupported table. As shown, for example, inFigures 1, 2 and 3, the top or table proper is denoted by the numeral 18and it is an elongate solid board or the like, supported by underlyingspaced parallel longitudinal rails 20-20. The supporting legs aredenoted by the numerals 22-22. There is a brace board 24 between thelegs as shown for example, in Figure 3, with stay rods 26 passingthrough the legs and assisting in securing the board in place. There isa similar brace board 28 (see Figure 7) beneath the top and this has itsends seated in cut out recesses 30-30, there being a stay bolt, or rod,32 to assist in rigidifying the cooperation of the parts.

Referring now to the right hand ends of the side rails 20-20, in Figure1, for example, there is a specially designed bracket provided, on eachrail, of course, and said bracket is denoted by the numeral 34. It isshown in Figures ll, 12 and 13 and will be described in detail later on.These two brackets are adjustably mounted on the side rails and theyserve to rotatably support a freely rotatable roller 36 therebetween.Similar support brackets are provided at the opposite or left hand endand these are denoted by the numerals 38-38. They are shown with greaterparticularity in Figures 14 and 15 and will be described later. In anyevent, these two brackets serve primarily to support the conveyor roller40 and these two rollers support and operate the endless belt means.Instead of using a web-type belt, a plurality of endless cords, orelements, 42 are provided and these are trained over grooves 44 (seeFigure 4) formed in the surface or peripheral portions of the respectiverollers. Thus, these endless cords or belts, are friction driven. Asshown in Figure 4, the roller is in turn driven by a pulley 46 receivingmotion from a belt 48 operating over a second pulley 50 mounted foroperation on a gear box, or other equivalent transmission unit 52 (seeFigure 1) which latter is supported on an end portion 54 of a platform56 carrying the electric motor 58. Appropriate clutch means is denotedat 60. Thus, we have a prime mover and transmission means at the lefthand end of the structure for turning or operating the roller 40 andoperating the endless belts or cords with the upper runs of the lattertraveling in sliding contact with the upper surface of the table top 18.The cords are sutficiently spaced apart in parallelism to provide ampleroom for the attendants or graders to have finger room to assist inlifting and lowering and otherwise handling the tobacco stems andleaves. Not only this, the individual belts feed the tobacco leaves moresuccessfully and prevent displacement as occurs with a solid web-type ofa belt. Also, in connection with Figure 1, the numeral 62 designates abackboard which stands vertically and causes the tobacco to pile up atthis point and this in turn is provided with arcuate fingers 64 whichhave their free end portions operating in the spaces between theadjacent end portions of the endless cords or belts. The over-allassemblage of fingers 64 forms a sort of an anti-clogging grill andpermits certain of the finer pieces of tobacco leaves, so-called trashto pass on through while the intact and larger leaves are caused to pileup for subsequent removal.

Reverting to the brackets 34, as shown in Figures 11, 12 and 13, eachbracket is a suitable plate 66 having elongate slots 68 to accommodateattaching bolts 70. There is a laterally directed lug or car 72 at oneend to accommodate an adjusting screw 74 which is suitably mounted in asmaller or auxiliary bracket 76 on the side rail. At the extreme righthand end of the bracket there is an offset portion 78 carrying a bearing80 for the roller journals and having a lateral flange 82 provided witha keeper notch 84. The two keeper notches serve to accommodate attachingstuds 86 (see Figure 9) carried by upright frame members 88 provided onthe attachable and detachable tobacco receiving shelf 9. The frame meansalso includes horizontal angle irons or equivalent members 92 on theunderneath side of the shelf and diagonal braces 94. Thus, we have anelongate rectangular shelf which is shown in bottom plane in Figure 10,and which is readily applicable and removable and can be attached to therespective brackets 34-34 by way of the stud and notch means detailed inFigure 9. It will be noticed that the attachable end of the shelf is ina plane above the top of the belts and rollers and therefore a segmentalportion of the roller is actually underneath the end portion of theshelf. Thus, the tobacco which is to be graded is dumped loosely on thisshelf as the starting point.

The brackets 38-38 at the opposite end are of similar construction inthat each one includes a plate 96 with a bearing at one end as at 98 toaccommodate the journal on the adjacent roller. There is a lateral endportion 100 to accommodate the adjusting and take up screw 102 mountedin the bracket 104. The horizontal outstanding flange 106 serves toaccommodate a jack screw 108 which interconnects the platform member 54with the bracket 38 all as shown at the left in Figure I. It might alsobe stated that there are depending hangers at this end which are denotedby the numerals 110 and these are on opposite sides of the framestructure and are spaced apart as shown in Figure 8 and they carry ashaft 112 which accommodates the hinging sleeve 114 held in place by thecollar 116 on the shaft. This allows the platform members 54 and 56 tobe tilted down or up after which the jack screw is tightened andmaintains the desired driving tension between the pulleys and belttrained over said pulleys. This arrangement also allows the motor to beremoved for repairs and adjustment by simply driving the shaft 28 out ofthe bearings provided therefore in the lower end portions of the hangers110. Some of these details, such as the specific brackets 34-34, 38-38and the hangers 110 and motor support and drive means, are incidentalparts which have been included for completeness of illustration andunderstanding of the operation of the over-all device. In a similarcategory are the brackets 118 which appear in Figure l and which dependbelow the side rails 20 and carry rollers 120 (see Figure 3) whichsupport the lower runs of the cord belts in the manner shown ,in dottedlines in Figure l, and in full lines in Figure 3.

Attention is now directed to the rack means and this is a readilyattachable and detachable device which is referred to generally by thenumeral 122 in Figure 5. The rack means actually comprises a pair ofspace parallel planks or boards 124-214 supported on the crossheadportion 126 of the T-shaped attaching means. The latter includes avertical member 128 which is removably mounted in sockets 130 providedon the arm portions of the U-shaped attaching brackets 132, all as shownin Figure 5. It is possible for two attendants to catch hold, at theopposite ends of the rack, and lift it up either emptied or loaded andmove it around. If,

vantage.

that they do not have to pause long to distinguish grades,

. open.

for example, after it is loaded, it may be desired to the lower one bythe numeral 140 andthey are bolted together at 142 thus making itpossible to shift the stakes toward and from each other to define pensof varying sizes into which the graded qualities of tobacco leaves aresystematically isolated and readied for handy tying.

The lighting means may vary in construction and may comprise a pluralityof lighting devices. However, the one shown in the drawings issufiiciently exemplary to illustrate the points herein to be made.

attached to one of the side rails of the table structure as shown atl46in Figure 3. There is a reach arm 148 That is to say,. i there is anupright 144 provided and this is suitably ported table having rollers atits opposite ends, a motor at one end, an'operating connection betweenthe motor and the adjacent roller, endless conveyor elements trainedover the respective rollers and having cooperating association with thetop of the table, a sorting rack detachably mounted on an intermediateportion of one longitudinal side of said table, an upright mounted onthe same side of the table as said rack, fluorescent lights mounted onsaid upright and located in a plane above said rack, said rackhavingadjustable rods forming 00 operating stacking pens, and a loading shelfat the intake end of said table having means for detachable connectionwith the stated intake end of said table.

2. For use. in a tobacco sorting packhouse, a portable easily shiftabletobacco grading apparatus comprising a leg supported table having asolid horizontally elongated top, spaced brackets attached to andprojecting beyond the respective end portions of said table and providedwith bearings, rollers mounted between the respective pairs of bracketsand having journals rotatable in their respective cooperating bearings,belt means trained over the rollers, the upper run of the belt meanshaving movable contact with the table top, said belt means which ishorizontally disposed and this'is connected, with 1 a cross head 156which in turn supports a canopy or appropriate hood-like reflector 152for the fluorescent lights. and, as stated, one of these is preferably aso-called daylight? ray or energy type and the other one a so-calledcool-white ray. Therefore, when the merging rays of light'are focused onthe moving tobacco in combination with each other, the shades of lightblend and merge and eflectually show up the variant spectrum colors inthe leaves of cured tobacco better than natural daylight and appreciablyspeed up the time in recognizing the grades by way of texture and colorand almost without hesitancy' or doubt the choices and grading steps arehandily taken care of. Experience shows that special lights make itpossible to clearly bring out the orange and lemon colors in particular,and to thus grade the tobacco to best ad- Users of the machine haverepeatedly said that they get through the job faster and that themarketed tobacco brings the highest possible prices.

It is within the purview ofthe invention to'utilize special fluorescentlight which has been devised to put out a special ray of light havingthe potential of even more satisfactory lighting up the moving tobaccoand bringing out the colors, texture defects and other marks whichenable expert graders to accomplish their work results with the leastpossible confusion and delay.

The invention grew out of the need to find a quicker and better way ofreadying tobacco for tying. There are a number of farm jobs which seemto need doing all at one time. One of the problems, if only tobacco isconsidered, is to get tobacco graded, tied and marketed in the shortperiod the markets on the home front are i This machine, and its motorconstruction and operation appears to be clear from the drawings anddescription, does thejob and is indeed that which fulfills a long feltneed and achieves intended results with the utmost inefiiciency.

From the foregoing, the construction and operation of the device will bereadily understood and further explanation is believed to beunnecessary. However,

since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to thoseskilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to theexact construction shown and described, and accordingly all suitablemodifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within thescope of the appended claims.

What is claimed as new is as follows: 1. A tobacco grading apparatuscomprising a leg-sup- Generally, there are two such lights 154 and 156comprising a plurality of individual endless cords in spaced apartparallelism, said rollers having peripheral grooves withwhich'cooperating portions'of the cords have friction driven keyedassociation, a readily attachable and detachable longitudinallyelongated tobacco receiving and piling shelf, and means whereby the sameis detachably connectable with a cooperating end portion of said table,brackets mounted on an intermediate portion of one longitudinal side ofsaid table, a rack having depending members detachably connected to saidbrackets, said rack embodying spaced parallel planks, a plurality of rodmembers having clamps at their lower ends detachably and adjustablymounted on the respective planks and rising vertically above said planksand cooperating with one another in defining adjustable grading pens.

3. A tobacco grading apparatus comprising a legsupported table havingrollers at its opposite ends, a

- motor at one end, an operating connection between the 'motor and theadjacent roller, endless conveyor elelights mounted on said upright andlocated in a plane above said rack, said rack having adjustable rodsforming cooperating stacking pens, and a loading shelf at the intake endof said table having means for detachable connection with thestatedintake end of said table,

said table having a solid horizontally elongated top, said endlessconveyor elements comprising a plurality of endless cords in spacedparallelism, the surfaces of said rollers having peripheral grooves withwhich the cooperating portions of the respective individual cords havefriction driven keyed association.

References Cited in the file of this patent 'UNITED STATES PATENTS1,534,663 Sammis Apr. 21, 1925 1,734,318 Bloom Nov. 5, 1929 1,884,101Moe Oct. 25, 1932 2,011,969 Cavanaugh Aug. 20, 1935 2,359,165 ShumanSept. 26, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS 262,575 Great Britain Dec. 16, 1926

